Games Played December 30, 2006

One key to happiness – GAMES

We had a fun final day of gaming for 2006, playing six games (five different ones). Mason finished the year with a bang, winning three of the six games. Dan had hoped to catch Mason in total year wins, behind by only four at the beginning of the day, and tied with Katrina. But, Mason’s three wins sealed the title for him, and Katrina won a game (while Dan didn’t), so she finished second in number of wins for the year. And Kassi topped off the day with her fifth win since joining our family gaming group in the fall. It was a really neat day.

Here are our games played, alphabetically:

All 8 of us played Bohnanza, as we frequently do. We have played more games of Bohnanza than any other during the year, which reflects its popularity with us, as well as the fact that it plays great with 8 people. It looked like a fairly close game, until the very end, when Katrina pulled away from the group by a good margin. Results: Katrina first; Joel second; me third; Dan and Sue (tied) fourth; Mason sixth; Natalia seventh; Kassi last.

Carcassonne came out and was enjoyed much this year. Dan got on two large cities very early, but had terrible luck with them. One of them acquired two cathedrals and was connected to by Kassi and me, but we were unable to complete the city and got no points for it, while we each had two meeples tied up for much of the game. Dan’s other city was stolen by Joel, leaving Dan with almost no points for all that work. We played with The River II expansion, an item I received for Christmas, and enjoyed the additional small touches it added. I drew the river tile with pigs in the field and decided to take a chance on reaping some points with it. So, I placed a farmer on it immediately, a risky approach. Later, I added my own pig to the same field, and it was looking good, until Mason managed to connect a field he was on to it, and he had his monster meeple on his field, late in the game. I kept trying to connect two other fields, each with a meeple of mine, but could not get the final connecting tile before the end of the game. So, I had three farmers tied up for very little payoff. I didn’t do well, but Dan set a new low score record of 33. Oooh, bad day at Carcassonne! Results: Mason first; Katrina second; Joel third; Sue fourth; Kassi fifth; me sixth; Dan last.

A new game I received for Christmas was Pickomino. This game has been around for a while, but didn’t attract my interest until this year, when several people mentioned it as a good game for 7 players. It was fun! It played quickly, so we played it twice. Later, Natalia played it with Dan, Katrina, and Joel at their house, and she liked it, so we may be playing it with 8 players in the future. Game One Results: Mason first; Kassi and me (tied) second; Dan and Katrina (tied) fourth; Sue and Joel (tied) last. Game Two Results: Joel first (8 worms); Dan second; me third; Mason and Sue (tied) fourth; Katrina and Kassi (tied) last – with zero worms.

Royal Turf has long been a favorite of ours, and it was Kassi’s first time to play it. We play two races and total the money to determine the winner of a single game. Results: Mason first; me second; Katrina third; Sue, Dan, Joel (tied) fourth; Kassi last.

We finished the day and the year with our second most-popular game – Settlers of Catan. I finally got around to painting Kassi’s playing pieces purple, one of her favorite colors. The natural wood I had left them as originally looked very much like the white road pieces that Mason always uses, and it was a little confusing when their roads connected. I guess the paint job passed along some luck to Kassi. She managed to get the Longest Road fairly early, and no one got the Largest Army. With our special 7-player rules, we play to only a score of 7, so the game is fairly quick. I stole the Longest Road from Kassi, when her score was standing at 6, but she managed a great die roll on her next turn, re-took the Longest Road and placed another settlement, winning the game! Results: Kassi first; Dan second; Mason and Katrina (tied) third; Joel, Sue, and me (tied) last.

We had a great year of gaming. We modified a number of excellent games, to allow for 7-8 players, and we enjoy getting together almost every Saturday for lunch and games. What could be a more fun family tradition?

--- Gerald … near Denver, Colorado
aka gamesgrandpa -- A grandpa who is a mile high on gaming